Hopping on the ’80s trend, but Milton Friedman was actually spending the decade bringing free-market ideas to millions through Free to Choose, advising Reagan, and making the case for lower taxes, less regulation, and limited government.

We just wanted to see him in a colorful outfit. The ’80s trend, except Margaret Thatcher was actually there. Running Britain. Privatizing industries. Cutting taxes. Taking on the unions. Hopping on the ’80s trend, but Frédéric Bastiat was actually spending his time making the case for free trade, limited government, and individual liberty—and showing how government policies can create costs we don’t always see. He definitely missed the ’80s. We just wanted to see the outfit. Hopping on the ’80s trend, but Ayn Rand was actually spending her final years defending individualism, capitalism, and Objectivism through her writing, interviews, and lectures. We’ll admit it: we mostly wanted to see the ’80s look. Ludwig von Mises didn’t make it to the ’80s. His ideas did. Free markets. Sound money. Entrepreneurship. A relentless critique of central planning. The decade caught up with the ideas. We took care of the wardrobe. While everyone’s going back to the ’80s, Friedrich Hayek never had to. Writing. Lecturing. Warning about central planning. Watching free-market ideas move from the margins into the mainstream. The ideas were serious. The outfit didn’t have to be. Hopping on the ’80s trend, but Adam Smith was actually spending his time in 18th-century Scotland writing The Wealth of Nations, shaping the foundations of modern economics, and explaining the importance of markets, trade, and specialization.